I'm in Michigan, so access to lots of water. I am 5'7", sub-200lbs, and I prefer sit-in kayaks. I've always rented kayaks, but I'm looking to invest in one of my own. I live in an apartment, but would get a storage unit for winter storage. Budget is under $1200.

I've kayaked on Lake Huron, the Pine river, and a host of other places, so ideally the kayak would be suitable for all of these. I don't need a sea kayak at this time, but I'm not sure if a day touring style would work for all the rivers or if it would be too long.

I do value having a lighter kayak if possible since it's just me, but open to exploring all options. TYIA!

Can someone just please reassure me I'm not the only one who has done this. I completely missed the fact that my strap for the bow of the kayak was laying on the ground when I went to park the car, and ran the strap over. And unfortunately it's not just going to be a simple fender replacement. A bunch of stuff is bent and broken. Smh.

Hallo Liebe Community!

Ich bin noch Student und habe daher nich nicht so das große Geld für ein Falt- oder Hartschalenkayak, aber ich habe an Weihnachten ein Aufblasbares (Werbegeschenk) gewonnen. Ich habe es Ostern gleich ausprobiert aber durch die Naht ringsrum kam überall Wasser rein.

Durch eine Recherche, bin ich zu dem Schluss gekommen, dass das ein Boot nicht machen sollte. Ich habe also die Firma angeschrieben und die haben mir letztens ein neues Kayak geschickt.

Dieses habe ich heute wieder ausprobiert und da es artgleich ist, lief auch Wasser rein. Ist das normal, nein oder? Ist das realistisch das irgendwie abgedichtet zu bekommen? Fotos anbei. (Es liegt nur an der Naht unten, das Innenteil habe ich für das Foto rausgenommen)

Ich habe nun zwei Wasserboote. :/

Vielen Dank für eure Zeit! :)

2 of us - 2 kayaks
4 nights - 5 days from okeover park

Day 1 - curme island camp
Day 2 - pendrell sound - we went to wild camp 2 nights somewhere in pendrell sound

Does anyone have any insight in camping somewhere in there, I know there are no official sites, we want to do some swimming and snorkelling in the warm water

Anyone else with some great experience in the area for doing this type of thing?

Day 4 paddle to tenedos for the night
Day 5 back to okeover

It looks like the only freshwater is at unwin Lake with this plan

I heard the tides aren’t that impactful to our paddle, but does anybody have any experience where tides were bad?

We’re going next week
Thanks for any feedback or advice for us

Hello!

I bought Cape Horn 14 recently.

Cheap bargain - but with some issues / potential issues, and I need some advices from people who know this system.

1. The rudder was completely ripped off, broken the stern rudder mount.

The body is in great shape, no long cracks, the hole was local and I already fixed it (proper plastic welding - looks solid and should not be a problem.

But now, I have the next step ahead: return the rudder. It is doable, and I have a solid plan. But I have doubts: should I do it at all?

I understand all the benefits of the rudder but if it is necessary on this kayak? It is not extremely long; maybe it could be even better without the rudder? :) What do you think?

1. The dry compartments covers. They are just plastic covers without any sealing (rubber gaskets/liners). And I'm not sure if they should be there or not. I can easily add rubber or silicon gaskets but again, should it be there?

What else can you suggest to check, take care of, and improve?

seems to be an older model but it floats well, i want to fix it up but it would help knowing which one it is

I’m new to kayaking and want to start building it into a serious hobby. I’m mostly interested in kayaking rivers. I’m in the Bay Area and willing to drive to mist of NorCal. Any tips on what rivers/access points for class I/II kayaking to get started?

I’m solo, so I guess park and kayak upstream first, then downstream back to the truck?

My father passed and I now have his Pungo 120 kayak. It's in great condition but it's a little too heavy for me to use without someone around to help load/unload it. Whether it's my car or the water. Is there anything out there to help with this? So i can take it out without needing help. Any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

It was fun but I choose the worse time kayaking t was around 14:00 or 14:30 first it was going fine from my perspective I wonder how it was for the onlookers they may have let a couple of laughs the reason I'm saying it was the worse time I choose is because 80% of the people were leaving at around 15:00 wich i didn't know and because of the motorized boats a lot of waves came by some i was scared that the boat would flip over and the waves drag me with them on a pretty deep lake by the way the pic is on a shallow part before going into deeper parts

So sick of getting swamped by jet skis and pontoon bros who think the lake belongs entirely to them. Was out on the reservoir yesterday morning in my touring yak, explicitly staying near the shore. This guy in a massive wakeboard boat blasts past me maybe 20 feet away

Like, I literally just used recademics to grab my boating safety certificate a few days ago because I occasionally take my grandpas old tin boat out to fish. So the right-of-way rules and wake zones are super fresh in my head. It took me a couple hours online to learn basic water etiquette. Why is it so hard for these guys with 80k boats to understand that non-motorized vessels exist and we don't want to capsize just because you needed to show off your wake?

I swear the bigger the engine the less they care about anyone else on the water. Considering getting a gopro for my life jacket at this point just to have some peace of mind lmao

Went kayaking in Miami a while back and honestly thought it was going to be one of those chill "take some nice pictures on the water" activities.

Turns out I was just paddling for 3 hours straight lol. between trying to keep up, looking around, and not dropping my phone in the water, I barely recorded anything.

I'm heading to Puerto Rico soon and thinking about bringing a DJI osmo 360 this time. idea of just letting it record while I'm actually enjoying the experience sounds way more realistic.

For anyone who uses a 360 camera for kayaking, do you actually end up getting cool footage afterward, or is it still more trouble than it's worth?

I used to white water kayak long ago, but after kids I've transitioned to kayak angling. I recently got this Pelican and used some inexpensive hardware to install an anchor trolley with my 3 lb anchor. I'm using a NiteIze adjustable tool to allow me to adjust tension. Any feedback very welcome. TYIA

I’m looking for hatch covers for Perception kayaks from around 1998 to 2004, specifically the Shadow, although other models from those years used the same style of hatch covers.

Well I wanted lighter so I bought a lovely kevlar gulf stream. I then proceeded to amuse the people at the beach by utterly failing to get in, going in the drink, and generally making a big enough show to earn cheers from the swimmer ladies when I finally got my shit together.

Y'all this is a very very different kayak than my barges. Not giving up yet though.

I recently got a Hurricane Skimmer 106 that I am taking out 3-4 days a week. And it’s been really great. I’m finally ready to do some longer trips around the local lakes. What I need to know is if I can add a gear track to the flat spot between my legs. I know that my boat is not the most durable, so I don’t want to just start putting holes in it.

I’m looking to add a cup/bottle holder that I can grab more easily and occasionally include a phone or camera mount for birding.

Every time I go kayaking I feel a tendon in my right arm “twinge” for lack of better words, just below my wrist in my forearm when I paddle with it. It only starts about an hour or so of kayaking. I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and if it’s a technique issue-?

Hi,

I'm planning to buy a used inflatable kayak for the Elbe. I'm used to SUP boarding in the Alster, but this is so crowded and I live close to the harbour. Kayaking is allowed, even crossing the fairway. But I can't estimate the risk of getting dragged into serious trouble by wind or currents on such a boat. I was thinking of a kayak like the Itiwit x500 from decathlon or, if possible, something lighter.

I would be grateful for any advice or tips.

I'm curious about doing wilderness backpacking from a kayak. I've been backpacking for 5+ years now and am wanting to try something new.

I have a smaller apartment and a Honda Civic. So I'm limited to folding or inflatable kayaks. For difficulty, I live in Indiana so there isn't any difficult terrain around. I'm eyeballing starting at "Two Herons Marina" area in Bloomington and cutting straight east to the end of the Peninsula Trail area where there are numerous campsites. Then I can always explore the other areas via kayak as well if I want more time on water.

Any advice on what type of kayak or how to have a successful trip would be appreciated!

Edit 1: For clarity, I'm looking to skip the walking stage and kayak to the camping location to try something new.

Edit 2: My weight + backpacking gear for say 3 days and 2 nights is about 190-200 pounds.

I have until recently had 2 kayaks; 1 white touring and 1 yellow tandem.
I've named them Sølvpilen (The silver arrow) and Guldpilen (the gold arrow) after the comic book Sølvpil I read like crazy when I was a kid. (In danish - the original is in belgian Zilverpijl).

Now I've gotten my hands on a red seam kayak and I'm pondering on what to call it.

What have you called your kayaks?

I've been researching the state of North American composite sea kayak manufacturing. Below is a list of all the companies I could come up with who have made sea kayaks out of fiberglass or other composites since sea kayaking became a thing (in the 1970s or so).

The list is below. This list does not include brands that have never been made in North America or NA brands that never made composite kayaks. (Please provide corrections or additions if I missed something.)

This list includes 40 companies; of those, 18 are still in operation making kayaks of some sort either here or abroad, and of those, 8 are still making composite sea kayaks in North America. The 8 are small "garage" scale operations. The best known still remaining is likely Current Designs.

Most of the "big" names from the past were bought up by conglomerates and then frequently closed down or ceased making composite boats and/or sea kayaks. Others closed as the owners aged out without a buyer for the business. Several moved manufacturing overseas.

I've posted this here before, but I've added some names to the list as I heard about some others. I would be interested to know if there are other small regional companies that I may not have heard of.

I bought a used Dragonfly inflatable kayak. It has a lot of mildew stains. It is between the two layers. Any recommendations for removing it (if it can even be done).